Sea Vessel Docking Station

ABSTRACT

A system and method in which a buoyant central docking station captures, lifts and couples one or more other sea vessels is disclosed, wherein a flexible, modularized production system is quickly realized on a cost effective basis. The capabilities of a number of older, less expensive, readily available vessels are combined to achieve an effective FPSO substitute that allows lower producing fields to be explored and produced in a profitable manner. The time horizon between initiation and consummation of field operations is reduced, and older vessels that might otherwise be scrapped or retired are again made useful and seaworthy in a safe and profitable exploration and production environment.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 17/180,408, filed Feb. 19, 2021, which claims benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/562,807, filed Sep. 6, 2019, which claimsbenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/016,662, filed Jan. 28,2011, which claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/346,214 filed Dec. 30, 2008, which claims benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/150,608 filed Apr. 29, 2008, which claimsbenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/285,439 filed Nov. 22,2005 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/695,727 filed Jun. 29, 2005, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to offshore oil and gasexploration and production systems, and in a specific, non-limitingembodiment, to a system and method of capturing, lifting and coupling aplurality of sea vessels using a centralized wet docking station, sothat relative deck sizes are effectively increased, and equipmentpackages and other facilities are exchanged between the decks ofcaptured vessels in a stable and efficient manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Innumerable systems and methods have been employed in efforts to findand recover hydrocarbon reserves around the world. At first, suchefforts were limited to land operations involving simple but effectivedrilling methods that satisfactorily recovered reserves from large,productive fields. As the number of known producing fields dwindled,however, it became necessary to search in ever more remote locales, andto move far offshore, in the search for new resources. Eventually,sophisticated drilling systems and advanced signal processing techniquesenabled energy companies to search virtually anywhere in the world forrecoverable hydrocarbons.

Initially, deepwater exploration and production efforts consisted ofexpensive, large scale drilling operations supported by tanker storageand transportation systems, due primarily to the fact that most offshoredrilling sites are associated with difficult and hazardous seaconditions, and thus large scale operations provided the most stable andcost-effective manner in which to search for and recover hydrocarbonreserves. A major drawback to the large-scale paradigm, however, is thatexplorers and producers have little financial incentive to work smallerreserves, since potential financial recovery is generally offset by thelengthy delay between exploration and production (approximately 3 to 10years), and by the large capital investment required for conventionalplatforms and related drilling, production and transportation equipment.Moreover, complex regulatory controls and industry-wide risk aversionhave led to standardization, leaving operators with few opportunities tosignificantly alter the prevailing paradigm. As a result, offshoredrilling operations have traditionally been burdened with long delaysbetween investment and profit, excessive cost overruns, and slow,inflexible recovery strategies dictated by the operational environment.

More recently, deepwater sites have been found in which much of thedanger and instability usually present in such operations can beavoided. For example, off the coast of West Africa, Indonesia andBrazil, potential drilling sites have been identified where surroundingseas and weather conditions are relatively mild and calm in comparisonto other, more volatile sites such as the Gulf of Mexico and the NorthSea. These recently discovered sites tend to have favorable producingcharacteristics, yield positive exploration success rates, and admit toproduction using simple extraction and transportation techniques similarto those employed in dry land or near-shore operations.

However, since lognormal distributions of recoverable reserves tend tobe spread over a large number of small fields, each of which yield lessthan would normally be required in order to justify the expense of aconventional large-scale operation, most such regions have to date beenunderexplored and underproduced relative to their potential.Consequently, many potentially productive smaller fields have alreadybeen discovered, but remain undeveloped due to economic considerations.

Currently, most deep water exploration and production operations arefacilitated by means of a large, expensive floating production andstorage offtake (FPSO) vessel, which is used to arrange and storeessentially all of the facilities and equipment packages likely to berequired aboard a single ship, with lesser vessels being employed onlyin support roles for purposes such as transporting crews back and forthfrom shore, delivery of new or replacement equipment packages, etc.

As seen in prior art FIG. 1 , for example, an FPSO system 100 similar tothose presently being employed in the field is depicted, wherein theFPSO comprises a large deck surface (e.g., in excess of about 20,000square feet) capable of accommodating useful operational structures suchas a helicopter pad 101; officer, crew and control rooms 102; a watertreatment facility 103; one or more fluid injection pumps 104; one ormore oil, gas, sand and water separators 105; a gas treatment injectionfacility 106; a power generator 107; and a gas flare 108.

The FPSO has deck space for uploading additional equipment packages fromother vessels on an as-needed basis, and serves as a central station forthe entire exploration and production operation. In one commonapplication, the FPSO is held in place during operations by a mooringsystem using a plurality of mooring lines (not shown) that are tied offto other vessels, mooring buoys, etc. In alternative embodiments, theFPSO is moored to a turret, so that it essentially revolves around afixed point; and in a further embodiment, the FPSO is dynamicallypositioned, so that it is allowed to move in response to wave and swellactions, while still being held in position relative to the supportvessels and drilling sites in the surrounding area.

A modern FPSO used to service subsea production wells 110 and/orinjection wells 111 will typically have a keel length of between about900 and 1,500 feet, with a storage section 109 having a storage capacityof between about 500,000 barrels and about four million barrels disposedbeneath the ship's deck surface. In vessels where the storage volume isessentially zero but all of the other facilities and equipment packagesnecessary for injection and production operations are present, thevessel is instead called a floating production unit (FPU).

While relatively effective in deepwater environments, those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that FPSO systems also have severalmajor drawbacks. For example, a modern FPSO can take as long as eight toten years from start-up to completion before it can be used at sea, andthe total cost associated with manufacturing the vessel can run inexcess of one billion dollars.

Moreover, since an FPSO is so large and expensive to manufacture, onlyvery large field operations (e.g., those producing about 50,000 barrelsa day or more) will economically justify an operator's investment insuch a vessel. Consequently, a great many lesser fields (for example,fields have the capacity to yield only about 10,000 barrels a day) areknown by explorers to contain reserves, but are not being worked byproducers because the cost of production using an FPSO would exceed theprofits that could be obtained from recoverable reserves.

Past efforts to provide simpler, less expensive vessel docking systemsinclude U.S. Pat. No. 853,328 to Wiking, which discloses a pontoon-typefloating dock, which captures and lifts one or more vessels so as toserve as an extension of an attendant dry dock. The Wiking system isdeficient, however, in that it is useful “only for small vessels,” lacksthe buoyant capacity to capture and lift vessels of any significant sizeand weight (which is, of course, a critical aspect of any modernexploration and production system), and utterly fails to contemplate thecoupling of multiple deck surfaces in order to form a larger, unifieddeck from which exploration and production operations can be carriedout.

Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,419 to Breivik discloses a barge havingone or more docking stations formed at either end in which captive shipscan be docked, but fails to appreciate the advantages of lifting andcoupling two or more vessels so that their respective deck surfaces arecombined into a larger, unitary surface from which exploration andproduction operations can be carried out with maximum efficiency andsafety.

There is, therefore, a need for a system and method of exploring andproducing offshore wells in such a manner that the functions of two ormore vessels can be combined to work the wells without interruption, andwhere a number of closely disposed sites can be worked simultaneously bya limited number of such vessels.

There is also a need for a system and method by which a centralized,floating docking station provides access to a number of associated decksurfaces flexibly capable of meeting the changing needs of operatorsduring exploration and production, so that the delay between operatorinvestment and profit is minimized.

There is also a need to provide a substitute for existing floatingproduction and storage offtake vessels that admits to safe and reliabletransfer of equipment packages (e.g., drilling packages, testingpackages, production packages, workover packages. etc.) between andamongst associated deck surfaces, and for secure vessel connections sothat associated deck surfaces can be safely and easily connected and/ordisconnected during operations.

There is also a need to provide a surface vessel arrangement wherein aplurality of associated deck surfaces are complementary in function, sothat unnecessary delays and undesirable safety conditions are avoidedthroughout the entirety of exploration and production.

Finally, there is a need for vessel capturing, lifting and couplingsystems that permit older, less expensive and more widely availableexploration and production vessels to participate in offshore operationsby serving as a platform from which equipment packages and extractedhydrocarbon reserves are loaded, stored and transported in a safe,efficient and well-organized manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A wet docking station for exploring and producing offshore energy sitesis provided, in which the wet docking station includes at least: abuoyant central docking station; an adjustable buoyancy chamber foradjusting the buoyancy of the buoyant central docking station; and atleast one subordinate docking station for capturing and lifting at leastone sea vessel.

A method of exploring and producing offshore energy sites using a wetdocking station is also provided, in which the method includes at least:disposing a buoyant central docking station in communication with anadjustable buoyancy chamber, wherein said adjustable buoyancy chamber isused to adjust the buoyancy of said buoyant central docking station; anddisposing the buoyant central docking station in communication with atleast one subordinate docking station, wherein the subordinate dockingstation is used to capture and lift at least one sea vessel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a floating production and storage offtakevessel presently known in the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an example wet docking station according to theinvention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of a combined central stabilizer and bumper guardstructure useful with the wet docking station depicted in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 4 is the wet docking station depicted in FIG. 3 , shown after twovessels have been captured within the docking station.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of a portion of the docking station depicted inFIG. 4 , shown with two ships that have already been captured beinglifted and pinched between a central divider and a plurality of sidestabilizers.

FIG. 6 is an elevated depiction of a wet docking station according tothe invention.

FIG. 7 is an elevated view of a wet docking station having additionalstorage capacity according to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of a wet docking station used to load and offloadequipment, material, supplies, etc., between the decks of capturedvessels.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a wet docking station having additionalstorage capacity and additional deck surface for accommodating andstoring equipment packages, technical facilities, etc.

FIG. 10 is a top view of an alternative wet docking system according tothe invention, in which a plurality of individual wet docks are coupledtogether.

FIG. 11 is a front view of the wet docking station depicted in FIG. 10 ,wherein vessels of different sizes are shown captured, lifted andcoupled together, so that associated deck surfaces are combined into asingle, unitary whole.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to an offshore docking system in whicha number of multifunctional sea vessels are captured, lifted and coupledin a central “wet” dock using one or more adjustable buoyancy chambers.For the purposes of this application, a wet docking station is definedas a docking station capable of rising up from beneath sea level tocapture and couple one or more vessels, so that greater deck and storagespace, and a more flexible combination of facilities and equipmentpackages, is achieved.

The buoyancy chambers are generally disposed beneath the hulls of eitherthe wet docking station or the vessels captured within the dock (orboth), so that the buoyancy chambers are capable of transmitting asignificant, lifting force toward the bottom of the hulls; however, insome embodiments the adjustable buoyancy chambers are disposed withinthe hull of the docking station itself, with external buoyancy chambersbeing added to the system on an as-needed basis.

Once the captured vessels are lifted and secured within the centraldocking station, their deck surfaces are then coupled to one another, sothat equipment packages, technical facilities, etc., can be quicklytransferred between the vessels in a safe and controlled manner, therebyreducing the risk of accidents and collisions, as well as establishing alarge combined deck surface from which operations can be carried out.Consequently, project time horizons are reduced, and a flexible,modularized exploration and production system is achieved on a costeffective basis.

In the specific, non-limiting embodiment of the invention depicted inFIG. 2 , for example, a sea vessel docking station according to theinvention comprises a rib shaped support hull or other central dockingstation 200; one or more adjustable buoyancy chambers 201, which areheld or connected to the bottom of the docking station 200 by adjustmentcontrol means 202; and one or more vessel capturing stations 203 used tocapture incoming vessels prior to lifting and coupling them together.

In practice, adjustable buoyancy chamber 201 and the vessel capturingstations 203 rise up from beneath the hull of a vessel and apply asignificant lifting force, thereby lifting, supporting and pinching thevessel together in the arms of the docking station 200, so that a mutualdeck surface can be established between the newly captured vessel andother, previously captured vessels in a safe and reliable manner.

In the depicted embodiment, the depth at which adjustable buoyancychamber 201 is disposed beneath the wave surface is controlled by anadjustable control means 202, though in other embodiments adjustablebuoyancy chamber 201 is disposed in direct communication with supporthull 200. In still other embodiments, either (or both) of adjustablebuoyancy chamber 201 and adjustment control means 202 are withheld fromthe system, and support hull 200 is instead equipped with one or morebuoyancy chambers (such as an internal ballast system), so that thedepth of the docking station is controlled by either flooding orevacuating the buoyancy chambers disposed in support hull 200 with afluid, such as sea water, pneumatic pressure supplied from an outsidesource, etc.

During this process, the central docking station can be dynamicallypositioned with respect to surrounding vessels and buoys (not shown),fixed to a turret so that the station revolves around a mooring, orsimply tied off to suction anchors 204 or the like using one or moresets of mooring lines 205.

As seen in the example embodiment depicted in FIG. 3 , portions of thecentral docking station 300 comprise a divider 301 disposed between thecapturing stations, so that captured vessels cannot collide or transmitwave forces toward other vessels captured in the docking station 300. Inother embodiments, outer portions of divider 301 and the inner portions302 of the capturing stations are fitted with ship bumpers 303 or thelike, so that captured vessels can be lifted and pinched against thebumpers 303 by, for example, tying off the vessel against the bumpersusing ropes or chains, or by inwardly pivoting an arm of the stationabout a pivoting member 305.

In a further embodiment, captured vessels are lifted and held in placeagainst the ship bumpers 303 by means of an adjustable buoyancy chamber304. In cases where the captured vessels are of significantly differentsizes, an adjustable buoyancy chamber 304 disposed in the capturingstation can be used to lift the decks of the vessels to a similarelevation, so that a mutual deck surface can be established betweenthem, and equipment packages and the like can be transferred from shipto ship.

As seen in the example embodiments depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5 , however,vessels of similar size and dimensions 401, 402 and 501, 502,respectively, can be captured and controlled in such a manner thatadjoining deck surfaces are disposed in a relatively even and levelplane without requiring a secondary buoyancy chamber to lift eithervessel. In such embodiments, portions 400, 500 of the docking stationwill still comprise primary buoyancy chambers used for raising thestation up from beneath the vessels and initiating the capturingprocess, and for sinking the station back into the sea so that capturedvessels can be maneuvered away to make room for other, newly acquiredvessels.

Turning now to the detailed, non-limiting embodiment depicted in FIG. 6, a wet docking station 600 according to the invention is shown whichillustrates how two or more vessels can be captured, lifted and coupledin the station so that a unitary, multifunctional, sea-worthy vessel iscreated for furthering an exploration and production operation.

A principle advantage of the system is that the total deck surface areaof a smaller vessel 601 can effectively be increased by adding the decksurface area of a second, adjoining vessel 602 that has been captured,lifted and coupled to the first vessel 601. For example, if firstcaptured vessel 601 has a working deck space of about 150 in length andabout 50 feet wide, then the total available workspace on that vessel isabout 7,500 square feet. Likewise, if second captured vessel 602 has aworking deck space of about 200 feet in length and 70 feet wide, thenthe total available workspace is about 14,000 square feet. By liftingand coupling the two vessels together, however, a total availableworking deck space of about 21,500 square feet (7,500 plus 14,000) isachieved.

In this particular example embodiment, first captured vessel 601 isequipped with one or more of a power generator 603; a water treatmentfacility 604; a water injection package 605 with attendant waterinjection lines 617; and a crew housing and control unit 606. Those ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate, however, that virtually anynumber of other packages, production and storage units, stacks of riseror drilling equipment, etc., can instead be disposed on the firstvessel.

While such a vessel would be helpful for supporting an existingexploration and production project, it lacks many of the structures andtechnical packages necessary to initiate and complete an ongoingoperation. For example, first captured vessel 601 lacks an oil and gasseparator, gas compression and injection units, an oil treatment unit,and many other facilities and packages customarily found on floatingstorage and offtake vessels that might prove useful during operations.According to the invention, therefore, a second vessel 602 is captured,raised to an essentially equal deck height as the first vessel, and thencoupled to either the first vessel or the docking station so thatpersonnel can safely and reliably enjoy the advantages of both vesselssimultaneously, even as the two coupled vessels and the docking stationproceed as a single, unitary whole.

In the depicted embodiment, for example, captured second vessel 602further comprises a helicopter pad 607; a gas compressor 608 havingattendant gas injection lines 616; oil, gas and/or water separators 609;a gas treatment unit 618; an oil treatment unit 610; a gas flare boom611; and a plurality of oil production lines 615. In one embodiment, thevessel is controlled by ballasting at least part of the docking stationdown into the sea, and then floating the vessel over the docking station600 so that it can be captured and raised to the deck height of thefirst vessel. Alternatively, at least part of the docking station 600 isballasted down into the sea, moved beneath the hull of the vesselintended for capture, and then raised, so that the vessel is nowsecurely held in the dock, and the facilities and packages disposedthereupon can be used by operators in conjunction with the facilitiesand packages disposed on the first captured vessel 601.

In this particular embodiment, since all of the technical facilities andequipment packages necessary to carry out operations in a typicalexploration and production project are provided, it might not benecessary for any other vessels to be brought in with additionalequipment in order to complete the operation. However, should it turnout that additional facilities or packages are in fact required, one (orboth) of the vessels presently captured in the station can be released,and a third ship, a fourth ship, and so on, can be captured and employedto achieve the advantages of their technical configurations.

In this embodiment, the station releases a captured vessel by employinga protocol that is essentially the reverse of the capturing process. Forexample, if it is desirable to release second captured vessel 602 fromthe station for some reason, at least part of the station beneath thevessel is ballasted down until the vessel is free of the frictionalforces holding the vessel between central stabilizer 613 and sidedocking ribs 614; the vessel is then moved out of the station under itsown power, towed out of the station using a support vessel, or simplyheld in place using either a tethering system or dynamic positioningtechniques while the station is moved out from under the vessel.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 7 , a barge-like storage tank 700 isequipped with a ribbed hull docking station comprising a centralstabilizer 701 and a plurality of side stabilizers 702, which define afirst vessel docking port 703 and a second vessel docking port 704, asdescribed above with respect to various other embodiments. In thisembodiment, however, a large fluid storage facility 705 is alsoprovided, wherein about 500,000 barrels of fluid can be stored duringproduction, and then discharged into a tanker when its storage capacityhas been reached or is otherwise convenient for operators. The entiredocking station, or, alternatively, part of the docking station can besubmerged beneath sea level 705 at any given time, so long as thestation remains sufficiently stable to accommodate the lifting andcoupling of captured vessels.

As mentioned, it may at times be desirable to replace or removeequipment packages disposed on one or more of the vessels captured inthe station. Thus, FIG. 8 depicts another embodiment of a sea vesseldocking station according to the invention, wherein the system'simproved loading and offloading capabilities are emphasized.

As in previous embodiments, an offshore wet dock 800, within which aplurality of vessels 801, 802 are captured, is provided, comprising twoor more docking stations formed by a plurality of docking station innersurfaces 807, 808 and a plurality of lockable, pivoting side stabilizers805, 806. The buoyancy of wet dock 800 is controlled by either anexternal buoyancy chamber, or by one or more internal ballast chambersused to either improve or retard the dock's buoyancy characteristics,depending on whether water or another fluid is being pumped into orevacuated from the ballast chambers. Those of ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate that such ballast chambers satisfy the definition of theterm “adjustable buoyancy chamber” within the context of claimed design.

In such embodiments, the functionality of secondary buoyancy chambers809, 810 can be replaced by a more conventional, mechanical liftingsystem (not shown) without departing from the scope of the invention.Other presently contemplated methods of leveling captured vessels' decksinclude holding the height of one of the deck surfaces in a staticposition while raising the deck surface of a second vessel, and/orholding one of the deck surfaces at a static height and then loweringthe deck surface of the other vessel. Since many ships already includeballast systems that admit to the raising and lowering of a deck surfaceby raising or lowering the profile of the entire vessel, it is alsopossible to utilize that functionality and avoid the need for asecondary lifting system contained within the docking station in orderto level the deck surfaces of captured vessels.

In this particular embodiment, wet dock 800 is further equipped with adocking station connecting member 811, comprised of one or more verticalsupport members 812, a conveyer belt and roller assembly 813, and, inthe depicted embodiment, a spool for winding and unwinding cable orchain. etc., in response to winch system 814, 817, which feeds its lineover pulley 816 so that cargo or equipment package 815 can betransferred from the deck of captured vessel 802 down onto the surfaceof conveyer belt and roller assembly 813. The cargo or equipment packagecan then be moved closer to the deck surface 818 of captured vessel 801,or else moved on board the deck surface 818 of captured vessel 801, sothat operators can begin to use the equipment package 815 while capturedvessel 802 is allowed to leave the docking station.

In a detailed example of this embodiment, captured vessel 802 has atesting package aboard that is useful in conjunction with an explorationpackage stored on vessel 801. By coupling the raised deck surface ofvessel 802 with the lower deck surface of the docking station 800, thetesting package is transferred down onto the deck surface of the dockingstation by means of an elevated winch and pulley system, a hoist, or asmall crane or the like. Continuing the process, vessel 802 is thenremoved from the docking station, and a third ship is captured andraised in its place, so that additional equipment can be transferredonto the deck of docking station 800.

As seen in the example embodiment of FIG. 9 , a larger intermediate decksurface 907 disposed above the entirety (or part) of the docking stationhull 900 will result in the creation of a large, stable platform surfacehaving a total area greater than even the combined deck surfaces 908,909 of the captured vessels 901, 902 from which additional operationscan be carried out. In some embodiments, a portion of wet dock 900 islarge enough to serve as a fluid storage container, which can be fullyor partially submerged beneath sea level until such time as a transferof stored fluids becomes either desirable or necessary (e.g., in thecase where the storage container becomes full of stored fluid dining thecourse of operations).

In the example embodiment depicted in FIG. 10 , the general-purpose hullof the prior embodiments is replaced with a floating frame 1000, withinwhich an individual vessel can be captured. Additional floating frames1001, 1002, each of which house other captured vessels 1003, 1004, arethen connected to the first floating frame 1000 using a known connectingmeans 1006 (e.g., ship bumpers, connecting rods, etc.), so that theresultant structure becomes coupled into a single, modularized whole.

In some embodiments, the entire structure is supported by an externaladjustable buoyancy chamber (not shown); in other embodiments, however,the structure is not supported by a separate buoyancy chamber, andinstead relies on its own ballast and weighting systems to raise andlower the frames beneath desired vessels' hulls prior to capture.

In still other embodiments (see, for example, FIG. 11 ), after the decksurfaces of the captured vessels 1103, 1104 are raised to a desiredheight, a mutual deck surface 1111 or other, similar structure is fittedover the topmost surfaces of each ship. In this manner, the two vessels1103, 1104 are coupled, so that necessary operations can be carried outwhile the system continues to safely perform at sea as a single unitarystructure. For example, once the vessels 1103, 1104 have been coupledtogether, operators can thereafter use all of the various equipmentpackages (e.g., drilling packages, testing packages, productionpackages, workover packages, etc.) originally stored on the individualships as if the packages were originally all present on a single FPSO.

In practicing the invention, a number of older, less expensive vesselscan be used to duplicate the effectiveness of a far more costly, fullyequipped. modern FPSO vessel, which in practice is often unavailable onshort notice, or infeasible due to financial considerations. A principaladvantage of the invention in this respect is that ships of any size,age and hull design can be captured and coupled in the docking station,while the docking station itself proceeds at sea, essentially performingas an integrated, unitary housing within which various ships areserviced. Since the captured ships collectively contain all of theequipment and design packages required to satisfy the many differentneeds of an exploration and production vessel, piecemeal assembly of thetechnical packages required for any particular operation is achieved,without the need for a large, expensive, exploration and productionvessel that contains all of the equipment that might ever be useful inan operation irrespective of whether it is actually needed in theapplication at hand.

In short, the invention disclosed herein provides a unique system andmethod by which a central docking station can capture, lift and couple aplurality of sea vessels, so that a flexible, modularized productionsystem is achieved on a cost effective basis. The capabilities of anumber of older, less expensive vessels can be combined to achieve aneffective FPSO substitute that allows lower producing fields to beexplored and produced in a profitable manner. Time horizons betweeninitiation and consummation of field operations are reduced, and oldervessels that might otherwise be scrapped or retired are again madeuseful and seaworthy.

The foregoing specification is provided for illustrative purposes only,and is not intended to describe all possible aspects of the presentinvention. Moreover, while the invention has been shown and described indetail with respect to several exemplary embodiments, those of ordinaryskill in the pertinent arts will appreciate that minor changes to thedescription, and various other modifications, omissions and additionsmay also be made without departing from either the spirit or scopethereof.

1. A wet docking station for exploring and producing offshore energysites, the wet docking station comprising: a buoyant central dockingstation; an adjustable buoyancy chamber for adjusting the buoyancy ofsaid buoyant central docking station; and at least one subordinatedocking station for capturing and lifting at least one sea vessel;wherein said wet docking station is equipped with at least one of ahelicopter pad; a crew quarters; a ship control room; an oil separatingunit; a gas separating unit; a water separating unit; a sand separatingunit; a gas treatment unit; a gas injection unit; and a power generatingunit.
 2. The wet docking station of claim 1, wherein said adjustablebuoyancy chamber further comprises a chamber that is externally disposedrelative to said central docking station.
 3. The wet docking station ofclaim 1, wherein said adjustable buoyancy chamber further comprises achamber that is internally disposed relative to said central dockingstation.
 4. The wet docking station of claim 1, wherein said adjustablebuoyancy chamber further comprises a plurality of discrete innerchambers.
 5. The wet docking station of claim 1, wherein said adjustablebuoyancy chamber further comprises at least one fluid intake port and atleast one fluid evacuation port.
 6. The wet docking station of claim 1,further comprising a coupling member used to couple said at least onesea vessel to said central docking station.
 7. The wet docking stationof claim 1, further comprising a coupling member used to couple aplurality of captured sea vessels to one another.
 8. The wet dockingstation of claim 7, wherein said coupling member further comprises anintermediate deck surface.
 9. The wet docking station of claim 1,wherein said at least one sea vessel further comprises an offshoreenergy exploration equipment package.
 10. The wet docking station ofclaim 1, wherein said at least one sea vessel further comprises anoffshore energy production equipment package.
 11. (canceled)
 12. Amethod of exploring and producing offshore energy sites using a wetdocking station, the method comprising: disposing a buoyant centraldocking station in communication with an adjustable buoyancy chamber,wherein said adjustable buoyancy chamber is used to adjust the buoyancyof said buoyant central docking station; disposing said buoyant centraldocking station in communication with at least one subordinate dockingstation, wherein said at least one subordinate docking station is usedto capture and lift at least one sea vessel; and equipping said wetdocking station with at least one of a helicopter pad; a crew quarters;a ship control room; an oil separating unit; a gas separating unit; awater separating unit; a sand separating unit; a gas treatment unit; agas injection unit; and a power generating unit.
 13. The method of claim12, further comprising disposing an adjustable buoyancy chamber that isexternally disposed relative to said central docking station.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising disposing an adjustable buoyancychamber that is internally disposed relative to said central dockingstation.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising disposing anadjustable buoyancy chamber having a plurality of discrete innerchambers.
 16. The method of claim 12, further comprising disposing anadjustable buoyancy chamber having at least one fluid intake port and atleast one fluid evacuation port.
 17. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising disposing an adjustably buoyant central docking stationhaving a coupling member used to couple said at least one sea vessel tosaid central docking station.
 18. The wet docking station of claim 12,further comprising disposing a buoyant central docking station having acoupling member used to couple a plurality of captured sea vessels toone another.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising disposing abuoyant central docking station having an intermediate deck surface. 20.The method of claim 12, further comprising equipping said at least onesea vessel with an offshore energy exploration equipment package. 21.The method of claim 12, further comprising equipping said at least onesea vessel with an offshore energy production equipment package.